Spookyfish/Trivia

This page contains trivia for "Spookyfish". Remember, trivia must be factual, provable, and it is always best to cite your source for not-so-obvious trivia. If you would like to dispute a trivia point, please discuss it in the article comments.

Kenny's house is shown to leak and have power outages during thunderstorms.

In the evil parallel universe, Cartman is nice, Stan and Kyle are mean, Kenny is rich and wealthy and Chef is a skinny white insurance salesman.

Running Gag:Sharon burying bodies in the backyard and becoming sensitive of Stan thinking it was him that killed the people when it was actually the fish.

This was the first episode that Stan wore his pajamas when he was sleeping.

It is shown that Sharon goes through mood swings whenever her Aunt Flo comes to visit as well as making Randy sleep on the couch during her visits.

References to Popular Culture

The entire episode was shown in "Spooky-Vision", with every frame having the words written round the edge of the screen and pictures of Barbra Streisand in the four corners. This is in response to a May 1998 interview Barbra Streisand had with Mirabella magazine where she commented on her portrayal in the South Park episode "Mecha-Streisand". She stated that "I enjoy satire and parody, [but] I wonder if shows like South Park and Beavis and Butt-head don't add to the cynicism and negativity in our culture, especially in children."

The alien creature that emerges from the space ship at the beginning of the episode resembles the xenomorph aliens common to the Alien franchise.

The Cartman doppelganger and the majority of the plot elements revolving around his character are a parody of the Star Trek episode Mirror, Mirror which aired October 6, 1967. This episode was the first in the Star Trek franchise to introduce the concept of parallel worlds. It featured a mirror world where the Federation was evil, and each crew member of the Enterprise had an evil doppelganger, including Mr. Spock. The Spock duplicate had a beard much like the Cartman doppelganger in this episode.

The boys mock the doppelganger Cartman by asking him if he's dressed up like actor Luke Perry. Perry is best known for his role in the original Beverly Hills, 90210 which ran from 1990-2000. During the time this episode aired, Perry was sporting a beard.

Aunt Flo is a personified parody of a woman's menstrual cycle.

Cartman begins using the phrase "hella", which has its origins San Francisco's Hunters Point neighborhood. It is a slang term meaning "very" or "really".

The goldfish writing the word "Kill" on the fish bowl is a call to the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark" wherein an alien of the Hortian race writes "No, Kill I".

When Sharon believes that Stan is murdering people and tries to cover up for him she says "I've got such a good boy, Mommy's little angel" it is a parody of a similar scene from the 1956 movie The Bad Seed.

When Stan tries to explain to Sharon that the fish killed people and not him, Sharon begins singing a variation of the traditional children's lullaby Hush, Little Baby.

When the boys ask Cartman why he is at the bus stop, he responds sarcastically by asking them if they were expecting talk show host Maury Povich.

Whenever Cartman and his doppelganger are seen side by side, there is a visible line down the middle of the screen. This is a nod to the old film splicing effect that used to be done to make an actor play two roles and appear to be standing side by side. If the process was not done properly the splice line could be easily seen. Instances of this include Kenny being unevenly placed between the lines as well as other distortions done purposely.

One of the photos of missing people that Officer Barbrady shows Sharon is actor William Shatner, best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek.

When Officer Barbrady is bonked on the head with a shovel he says the phrase "Tennis Anyone?" This is a cliché joke phrase that was originally said by actor Humphrey Bogart during his early career on Broadway.

One transition between scenes in the third act features Barbra Streisand's head quickly zooming toward the screen as a sound effect from Super Friends is played.

While tied up in the Marsh's basement, Officer Barbrady sings the song Blue Tail Fly aka "Jimmy Crack Corn" a song that originated from a 1840's Minstrel show and eventually became adopted as a popular American children's song.

When Kenny's mother says "you'd be drunk too if you'd lost your boy" is another reference to The Bad Seed.

When the pet store owner opens the "Employees Only" door revealing a portal to the doppelganger Cartman's world, it is another reference to Poltergeist. In the film the closet in Carol Anne's room has a portal to the spirit dimension.

The concept of pets made evil by spirits of deceased Indians derives from the Stephen King novel Pet Semetary.

Apparently the Indians buried under the Indian Burial Ground Pet Shop are member of the Wampanoag tribe. This race of natives were not indigenous of Colorado however, they mostly inhabited Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

When the kids agree to carve the squash and enter it into the pumpkin carving contest Stan says "Yeah. You know, I never thought it was such a bad, little squash. It just needs some tender, loving care." This line is a parody of what Linus says in the Peanuts Christmas special A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The rifle Evil Stan and Evil Kyle have to send things back to their universe is similar to the phaser rifles of the Next Generation era of Star Trek.

Cartman tricks the boys into sending the Cartman doppelganger back to his home dimension by saying "Time is running out. You'll have to destroy us both." This is yet another Star Trek reference. This time to the episode "Whom Gods Destroy". When witnessing a battle between Kirk and shape shifter Captain Garth of Izar, Spock is able to tell the two apart when the real Kirk orders Spock to shoot them both.

However, these both reference a story in the Old Testament of the Bible where King Solomon has to judge two woman fighting over an infant. He orders the baby to be cut in half, so that they both have an equal share. One woman agrees with king's decision, while the true mother said that the other woman could have him. King Solomon then gave the baby to the true mother.

Hidden Visitor(s)

Before Cartman meets his evil counterpart, the woman on the sign has a visitor's head.

When Stan's dog is digging up the dead bodies you can see a (green) Visitor behind a tree.

Goofs

In the "Terrance and Phillip Halloween Special" when Phillip farts, Terrance says "That fart was absolutely ghoulish, Terrance." when he should have said "That fart was absolutely ghoulish, Phillip." It makes it look like he is talking to himself.

Throughout the episode, Sharon Marsh's eyebrows appear and disappear several times. Although this always happens to the boys also.